At 82, Dianne Feinstein is the oldest current U.S. senator. She had been seeking a no endorsement vote from the California Democrat Party at its executive board’s meeting in Oakland on Saturday, July 14. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

California’s top-two primary carried the risk of producing only candidates of one party on the November ballot. This actually happened in a number of legislative and congressional districts, but they were not any of the contested ones. Districts that had only elected one party’s candidate for decades won’t be upset by an intra-party final. At the statewide level, the final two were of the same party in only the U.S. Senate and lieutenant governor races. Since no one thought a Republican could unseat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, it is similarly unalarming that the November final is between her and fellow Democrat state Sen. Kevin De Leon. Indeed, it’s as though the Democratic Party held a primary under the old system, except non-Democrats get to vote. The post of lieutenant governor continues its search for meaning other than “Candidate for Governor The Next Time,” so that single party run-off in November also alarms few.

The desire to have a Democrat running against a Republican is motivated by those seeking to use November as a surrogate vote on national politics. Here, the designation by President Trump of John Cox as his favorite in the race for governor fulfilled the function formerly served by party chieftains. In the manner once exercised by Kyle Palmer and Norman Chandler of the Los Angeles Times, Trump served as king maker in the Republican Party — clearing the field so that one favored candidate would advance. The absence of such a dominant force in California party politics, both Democratic and Republican, led to the fear that the large number of candidates for various congressional districts would divide the vote so much that arithmetic (specifically, long division), rather than a district’s political leanings, would dictate who made it to the top two. At the very end of the June race, however, President Trump weighed in to prevent that result in the governor’s race, at the urging of Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Having achieved the tactical goal desired, McCarthy and Trump now have to face the strategic consequences. The Democrats were already set to make November a referendum on the presidency; the mutual embrace of Trump and California Republican candidates makes it unavoidable. Every Republican candidate will be asked where she or he differs from the president.

Former House Speaker John Boehner remarked last month that there is no more a national Republican Party. It is, rather, the party of Trump. Most notable proof of that fact was the defeat of Mark Sanford, an incumbent congressman and former governor, in South Carolina’s closed primary — entirely due to Sanford’s willingness to criticize the president, and his opponent’s avowed embrace of every position the president has taken. A similar effort by Republicans to demand Democratic candidates to distinguish themselves from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, or governor candidate Gavin Newsom, would be unavailing (though the Pelosi comparison had some success in 2014 and 2016). President Trump is on the front page every day; support for and opposition to him has eclipsed comparison to any other state or national political figures. So November will not be Democrat vs. Republican in California. It will be Trump, yes or no.

Non-Trump Republicans are fleeing from the party so identified with one man. The days of saying “I’m a Republican, however …” are over. The Democrats, though in the ascendancy, will be stressed by their all anti-Trump all-the-time strategy. If pushed too far, centrist California Democrats might find attractive a movement that focuses on working with others rather than demonizing them. Supporters of failed Democratic candidates for governor Antonio Villaraigosa and John Chiang are available. The nominee, Gavin Newsom, has yet made no visible effort to court them. Visits to California by 2020 Democratic presidential candidates senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders will emphasize this divide. These disaffected Republicans and Democrats might support an independent political movement, after November — for which Trump will have been the unintended catalyst.

Tom Campbell is a professor at Chapman University. He served five terms in the Congress and two years in the California state Senate as a Republican. He is now registered as unaffiliated with any political party.